Senior partner in AG wife's law firm hired for her expertise

THE law firm owned by the wife of Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi was hired by the Cabinet because of the expertise of its senior partner, Zelica Haynes-Soo Hon, said attorney Michael Quamina, who recommended her.

The law firm, Al-Rawi, Haynes-Soo Hon and Company, owned by Mona Nahous Al-Rawi, became embroiled in controversy after it became public that it was hired by the Cabinet to defend a lawsuit brought by the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS).

In March, the SDMS’s attorneys wrote to the Cabinet complaining of the cut in the number of national scholarships and the implementation of a new bursary system.

The Cabinet hired Douglas Mendes, SC, and Quamina, for the matter.

Newsday called Mendes, but his phone went unanswered.

Quamina said it was he who recommended Haynes-Soo Hon.

“She is an outstanding attorney and this is a very important matter. She understands public law. I recommended Zelica, and not the firm. The sole consideration was that she is a superb attorney.”

Haynes-Soo Hon is the instructing attorney in the SDMS's lawsuit.

In April, AG Al-Rawi said he had nothing to do with the hiring of his wife's firm.

Last Monday, Opposition MP Saddam Hosein again raised the issue, asking about the fees paid to the firm. Hosein made the call days after Al-Rawi laid in Parliament a list of the fees paid to attorneys between 2015 and 2021.

The information Al-Rawi provided showed Quamina received $3,941,560 between 2010 and 2021.

Newsday asked the Office of the Prime Minister in April about the hiring of the firm and the cost, but to date, has not received a response.

Asked in Parliament on Friday, Dr Rowley said no money was paid as the matter is still engaging the attention of the courts. He said when the bill is sent, payments will be made. Quamina told Newsday the same thing.

Naparima MP Rodney Charles pressed Rowley to divulge the procurement process in hiring the law firm. Rowley said from time to time, the OPM will be in need of legal services and he himself is not involved personally in that process, but the AG’s office or the permanent secretary in the OPM will handle such matters.

He said the hiring was done within the “appropriate public service department.”

“There is no procedure in my office that specifically identifies any citizen to be discriminated against or to be favoured.

"Madam Speaker, this is a business that has been involved in the hiring of probably hundreds of lawyers and I fail to see, other than a certain kind of unmentionable, (what) has my colleague obsessed with what happens to a law firm in which the member’s wife is a partner.”

He said no laws were broken or breached.

The Attorney General, in reading out the list of names and amount paid to attorneys, stressed that “not one black or red cent” was paid to his wife from the office of the Attorney General.